sunshine
at six in the morning
the dog, gobbing off
© Rachel Green May 2024
rowing boats
rotting at the side of the lake
in the public gardens.
It was half-a-crown to rent one
and I have a photograph,
almost sepia with age,
of my mother laughing
as she tries to keep up with my father's strong pulls.
Feathers in the water
as the swans wait for closing time
and the people to go home.
The boating lake is full of algae now
toxic blue-green, with warning signs
and photographs of dead dogs,
but the council took away the seating benches,
grassed over the flower beds,
and with all the money they saved,
gave themselves a pay rise.
© Rachel Green May 2024
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